


Link to the past

by Rogercat



Series: Modern AU; Himring National Park [6]
Category: TOLKIEN J. R. R. - Works & Related Fandoms, The Hobbit (Jackson Movies), The Hobbit - J. R. R. Tolkien
Genre: Alternate Universe - Human, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Erebor, Everyday Life, F/M, Family, Married Couple, Parenthood, Restaurants
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-10
Updated: 2019-08-10
Packaged: 2020-08-14 07:20:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,142
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20188441
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rogercat/pseuds/Rogercat
Summary: Dís and her husband Orvar enjoys their life even in middle age





	Link to the past

**Author's Note:**

> Dís is about 40 years here, with Thorin being the oldest on 45 years and Frerin about 42/43 years since as humans, they would be closer in age than in canon as Dwarves

The former mining community known as Erebor, northern Valinor:

In the modern era, with top modern restaurants in the big cities and fast food chains, it was becoming more and more rare to find old family restaurants which had belonged to one single family for generations. 

But the family restaurang known as Arkenstone Pancakes was not one of those old restaurants replaced by the modern ones. No, the Durinsson family had managed to survive into the modern world, and this was viewed as a big strength in the communities here in the north, who valued old traditions and were a little suspicious of changes that could risk that something from the ancestors could be lost.

“Madam Dís! Can we get some lunch, please!?” one of the teenage boys in the local football club called as he opened the door, closely followed by his club mates. The black-haired woman looked up from where she just had been cleaning a table, pleased to see that the teenage boys had been showering before arriving. She was very strict about not welcoming them directly after a training, because it honestly stank in the restaurang if many sweaty bodies was in there for a while. 

“Of course, a big batter pudding is already waiting for you in the oven, it should be done any moment now. You can eat it while I fix some normal pancakes on the stove.” 

Her husband Orvar proved her words true by showing up from the kitchen area, using a pair of oven mittens to hold a baking tray which was filled with a batter pudding. 

“Packed with bacon inside so you will eat well, lads!”

The batter pudding alone would not satisfy the appetite of the boys, but it would keep them busy in eating while the married couple fixed more pancakes. 

~X~X~X~X~X~X

Even after a long working day at Arkenstone Pancakes, Dís was proud of her inheritance. The family restaurang was filled with history, a link to the past that everyone in Erebor knew about. 

“....yes, thank you, young Samwise. It will be nice to see you with the usual supply of butter, milk, eggs and flour from the Shire. Have a nice evening and good luck in **_courting_**_ that Rosie_ _girl _you mentioned last week,” she finished the phone call to the Gamgee family, who had been their main providers of what the Durinsson family used for their menu at Arkenstone Pancakes. Samwise would arrive with the first morning train, delivering goods that was fresh from the very day before. 

In fact, her brother Frerin sometimes joked about that the foods from the Shire was the real secret behind the success of Arkenstone Pancakes. The first Durin, the man who had left his name to become the surname of his descendants, had married a girl from the Shire, one of many brides from the farming community that had been the founding mothers of Erebor since women was the key to survival for more than one generation thanks to their ability of giving birth to children. 

“Honey, dinner is ready!” Orvar called from the kitchen, already tempering her with the rich scent of that creamy chicken stew which had been the key to win her heart already in high school. They had never had any reason to regret the decision to get married as soon as they finished their senior year. 

“Any news from our boys or my brothers?” Dís asked as she entered the kitchen so they could eat dinner. 

“Thorin and Acacia with their sweet little girls is enjoying what they think is the calm before the storm of new court cases for Thorin later this summer. Frerin said that he would sleep over at a old friend this weekend.” 

And their own sons was busy with their own lives in what was young adulthood and adolescence. 

Fíli, the eldest on his 21 years of age, the one born before his parents had their first wedding anniversary, had shown early signs of understanding his duty as the next generation to care for Arkenstone Pancakes because Thorin had married very late in life (Dís had honestly believed him to the type to remain a bachelor to the very end of his lifespan), and Frerin had confessed to be more or less asexual since a young age. 

Kíli, on the other hand, who was only 16 and still in high school, had a lot of ideas for Arkenstone Pancakes that seriously crashed with the rest of the family. Like that he wanted to make it into a food chain, or at least expand it outside Erebor. A idea which had been ruthlessly ended by a furious Thorin, giving his younger nephew a long talk about why it was so important to respect old traditions and the risks of transforming the family trade into something of the modern world. 

“I still think that Thorin is right, even if he was a little too harsh on Kíli about the ideas our son showed us. Then again, he is in that age when youngsters might feel embarrassed over their family or something else that is “not cool enough”, and with all that drama that follows,” Orvar commented, knowing that with time, Kíli would learn to see the value of sometimes keeping things as they always had been, even with the change of the world outside Erebor. 

“If anything, I would love for him to lose that recknessless of his as he matures into a adult, because I worry about Kíli one day ending up in a dangerous situation that will haunt him for the rest of his life.” 

Orvar nodded, silently agreeing with Dís. Parenthood was both joy and endless worries, two sides of one coin. 

With their two sons and the two young daughters Thorin had from his dear Acacia, Arkenstone Pancakes would be in the Durinsson family for another generation. And this would hardly be the first time a set of cousins inherited the family restaurang from the previous generation of parents, uncles and aunts, if the will was just clear enough about who that would take over the restaurang itself and the other parts of the inheritance evenly distributed, the sons of Dís and the daughters of Thorin would not get into a family feud that would ruin the Durinsson family. 

~X~X~X~X~X~X

Despite all that, Dís was proud of her past and ancestors. Arkenstone Pancakes was a jewel for them, something which had remained with the family from the first years of Erebor. Its mines may not be used anymore for the rests of digging too deep, but the community was still alive by those who lived there. And she had never desired to move somewhere else. Erebor was home, and so was Arkenstone Pancakes, a living link to history. 

**Author's Note:**

> Thorin is married to a female version of Bilbo who is named Acacia here, because old Bilbo from LOTR canon shows up in a different role


End file.
